Guitarist Timothy McTague aims to keep it practical, progressive, and punk rock by relying on import Fenders, stripped-down SGs, and a dialed-in Axe-Fx.
“Tone is not important,” is an interesting phrase to hear while filming a Rig Rundown. But Underoath’s Tim McTague has good reason to shake his head at tone purists.
“Gear infatuation can be super cool because it’s a passion or a hobby, but it’s not necessary for me to do my job. I don’t want to degrade anyone who is into it, but it’s not my thing,” admits McTague.
So, what is his thing? We found that what he had to say during this Rundown echoed what he told PG in 2018 after recording Erase Me.
“One of the special things about Underoath is we’ve always been energy- and vibe-focused. We play as much or just enough to where it gets the point across.”
And during our Rundown, he continued along those sentiments: “To me, what’s important is energy and things that move the needle with a room full of people. My tech Diego Casillas is a tone geek, so when I can get someone to use technology that’s efficient for my onstage focus and sounds awesome, it’s really the perfect marriage.”
While he’s not precious about his gear, the resulting conversation with PG’s Perry Bean at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works before a sold-out show on April 2 was both provocative and pragmatic. He explained why he “doesn’t need to tour with nice guitars” but also acknowledged the benefit of digital gear and programming. He noted that he tries to keep it “punk rock as possible.” Then the next thing he said, sarcastically, was “wanna check out my computer?” All in all, what this Rundown lacks in guitar gluttony, it makes up for in rational substance.
Brought to you by D’Addario XPND Pedalboard.
Solid Guitar Tested
“I’ve broken way too many nice SGs, and I used to like touring with nice guitars, but then I realized I don’t need one,” admits Underoath guitarist Timothy McTague. Instead, he now buys Gibson SG Special HP models, rips everything out, puts in a Seymour Duncan JB humbucker, and wires that pickup straight to a volume pot. The SGs in his touring collection are reserved for drop-D tuning and take Ernie Ball Beefy Slinkys. (His tech programmed his Axe-Fx II XL+ to drop tune certain patches so it sounds as if McTague is playing in drop-C on his SGs, but he is still in drop D.)
Hammer T
Another tool in his touring chest is a Fender Telecaster HH that has been stripped back to its simplest form, with a Seymour Duncan JB humbucker in the bridge wired straight to the volume knob. McTague attacks all his guitars with Wedgie Delrin 1 mm picks.
The Black Stallion
For drop-A songs, McTague will saddle up and ride with this Squier Vintage Modified Baritone Jazzmaster that has a Seymour Duncan JB housed in a JM-style pickup covering. During the Rundown, McTague mentions that he records Underoath’s material with all these instruments. This extended-range rager takes Ernie Ball 6-String Baritone Slinkys (.013–.072).
“Keep It Simple. Don’t Overcomplicate Anything.”
“We break everything, so the less moving parts the better. I don’t want to worry about some cable I accidentally unplugged on my special sky verb I bought for a trillion dollars that takes my whole rig down. Let it rip and let me get back to business,” expresses McTague.
McTague and tech Casillas have every change and scene programmed into the Fractal Audio Axe-Fx II XL+, so nothing needs to be engaged or switched once the show starts thanks to the Abelton Live 11 Suite + Strange Electronic Setlist plugin doing the automation. His base tone starts with the Fractal’s Dizzy V4 Slvr 3, but that’s just the beginning of the architecture that assembles McTague’s live sound.
“Having everything—including patch changes—programmed in the Axe-Fx frees me up to express myself onstage and interact with the audience, without worrying about the technical processes happening behind me,” says McTague.
The only thing you’ll see onstage for McTague is this sleek board that has a Mission Engineering SP-1 Expression Pedal for wah settings via the Fractal, a Whirlwind MLTSELPRO4XR MultiSelector Remote, a Nice Rack Canada custom routing box, and a Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner.
- Feeling the Vertigo, Feeding the Vibe: Underøath’s Timothy McTague and James Smith ›
- Rig Rundown: August Burns Red ›
- Cult Coils: Lesser-Known Vintage Pickups ›
Maxon OD-9 Overdrive Pedal
The Maxon OD-9 Overdrive Effects Pedal may look like your old favorite but that's where the similarity ends. Improved circuitry with a new chip yields the ultra-smooth dynamic overdrive guitarists crave. Drive and Level controls tweak the intensity and volume while the Hi-Boost/Hi-Cut tone controls adjust brightness. Features true bypass switching, a die-cast zinc case, and 3-year warranty. From subtle cries to shattering screams, the Maxon OD-9 delivers a huge range of tones.
Features
Improved circuitry with a new chip yields ultra-smooth dynamic overdrive
Drive and Level controls tweak the intensity and volume
Hi Boost/Hi Cut tone controls adjust brightness
True bypass switching
Die-cast zinc case
AC/DC operation (order optional Maxon AC210N adapter)
Product Specs
Input: 1/4" mono jack
Output: 1/4" mono jack
Power: 9V DC, 6 mA, center pin minus (not included)
Dimensions: (WxDxH) 74 mm x 124 mm x 54 mm
Weight: 580g
Fender’s Greasebucket system is part of Cory Wong’s sonic strategy.
Tone pot with Fender Greasebucket tone system:
This 250k tone pot is a standard CTS pot with a 90/10 audio taper found in all U.S.-built Fender guitars. The Cory Wong guitar uses the Fender Greasebucket system, which is added to the pot as a ready-to-solder PCB. The Greasebucket PCB is also available individually from Fender (part #7713546000), though you can use conventional electronic parts for this.
Fender introduced this feature in 2005 on some of the Highway One models and some assorted Custom Shop Strats. The Greasebucket name (which is a registered Fender trademark, by the way) is my favorite of Fender’s marketing names, but don’t let it fool you: Your tone will get cleaner with this modification, not greasy and dirty.
According to Fender, the Greasebucket tone circuit reduces high frequencies without adding bass as the tone knob is turned down. Don’t let that description confuse you. A standard Strat tone control does not add any bass frequencies! As you already know, with a passive system you can’t add anything that isn’t already there. You can reshape the tone by deemphasizing certain frequencies and making others more prominent. Removing highs makes lows more apparent and vice versa. In addition, the use of inductors (which is how a passive pickup behaves in a guitar circuit) and capacitors can create resonant peaks and valleys (band-passes and notches), further coloring the overall tone.
Cory Wong bringing the funk onstage.
This type of band-pass filter only allows certain frequencies to pass through, while others are blocked. The standard tone circuit in a Strat is called a variable low-pass filter (or a treble-cut filter), which only allows the low frequencies to pass through while the high frequencies get sent to ground via the tone cap.
The Greasebucket’s band-pass filter is a combination of a high-pass and a low-pass filter. This is supposed to cut high frequencies without “adding” bass, which has mostly to do with the resistor in series with the pot. That resistor means the control will never get to zero. You can get a similar effect by simply not turning the Strat’s standard tone control all the way down. (The additional cap on the wiper of the Greasebucket circuit complicates things a bit, though; together with the pickups it forms an RLC circuit, but I really don’t want to get into that here.)
The standard Fender Greasebucket tone system is used in the Cory Wong Strat, which includes a 0.1 μF cap and a 0.022 uF cap, along with a 4.7k-ohm resistor in series. These are the values used on the PCB, and without the PCB it looks like the illustration at the top of this column.
Push-push tone pot with preset overwriting function:
The lower tone pot assigned to the bridge pickup is a 250k audio push-push pot with a DPDT switch. The switch is used to engage a preset sound by overwriting the 5-way pickup-selector switch, no matter what switching position it is in. The preset functionality has a very long tradition in the house of Fender, dating back to the early ’50s, when Leo Fender designed a preset bass sound on position 3 (where the typical neck position is on a modern guitar) of the Broadcaster (and later the Telecaster) circuit. Wong loves the middle-and-neck-in-parallel pickup combination, so that’s the preset sound his push-push tone pot is wired for.
The neck pickup has a dedicated tone control while the middle pickup doesn’t, which is also another interesting feature. This means that when you hit the push-push switch, you will engage the neck and middle pickup together in parallel, no matter what you have dialed in on the 5-way switch. Hit the push-push switch again, and the 5-way switch is back to its normal functionality. Instead of a push-push pot, you can naturally use a push-pull pot or a DPDT toggle switch in combination with a normal 250k audio pot.
Here we go for the wiring. For a much clearer visualization, I used the international symbol for ground wherever possible instead of drawing another black wire, because we already have a ton of crossing wires in this drawing. I also simplified the treble-bleed circuit to keep things clearer; you’ll find the architecture of it with the correct values in the previous column.
Cory Wong Strat wiring
Courtesy of singlecoil.com
Wow, this really is a personalized signature guitar down to the bone, and Wong used his opportunity to create a unique instrument. Often, signature instruments deliver custom colors or very small aesthetic or functional details, so the Cory Wong Stratocaster really stands out.
That’s it! In our next column, we will continue our Stratocaster journey in the 70th year of this guitar by having a look at the famous Rory Gallagher Stratocaster, so stay tuned!
Until then ... keep on modding!